Recall of defective vehicles mandatory for auto cos under MV Act

Vehicle manufacturers in India would have no option but for mandatory recall of faulty vehicles that may impact the environment adversely or harm the driver or occupants.Dipak K Dash | TNN | August 10, 2016, 09:41 IST

Recall of defective vehicles mandatory for auto cos under MV ActNEW DELHI: Vehicle manufacturers in India would have no option but for mandatory recall of faulty vehicles that may impact the environment adversely or harm the driver or occupants.

Paving way for such stringent norms on the lines of those adopted in developed countries, amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act, introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, specifies the conditions for triggering such a recall by the government and for imposing penalty on the manufacturers.

At present, in the absence of any specific provision in the law, vehicle makers have been practising voluntary recall. While the bill has proposed stricter penalty and even reimbursing full cost of the vehicle to buyers or replacing the defective vehicle, it provides a life line to the companies if they inform the government about any defect in a vehicle and initiate recall proceedings voluntarily. In such cases, they shall not be liable to pay fine to the government.

The proposed amendments mention that the Central government can direct a manufacturer to recall motor vehicles of a particular type or its variants, “if a defect in that particular type of motor vehicle may cause harm to the environment or to the driver or occupants of such motor vehicle or other road users”.

It also specifies that such an order can be issued if a defect in a particular type of motor vehicle has been reported to the Central government by a percentage of owners, which the government would notify, or a testing agency.

According to the amendments introduced in the Lok Sabha, the Central government may authorise any officer to conduct investigation and summon any person for examination. He would also have the power to order production of any document, receiving evidence on affidavit.